Despite GM's profits, taxpayers probably won't be off the hook

Shikha Dalmia at Reason Magazine has some bad news for taxpayers expecting GM to pay back the $30 billion they owe:
Three years after being rescued by a taxpayer bailout, General Motors recently announced some rather ambitious profit targets for 2012. But even if it meets these targets-a big if-taxpayers should not wait on one foot to recover their remaining "investment" in the company.
There is no doubt that GM has returned from the brink. It made $8 billion last year, a record high, and regained enough global market share to once again become the world's biggest automaker, a title it had lost to Toyota. More impressive, it is planning to bump its profit margins from 6 percent last year to 10 percent this year, on par with its best-in-class rivals such as Hyundai and BMW. This, it hopes, will allow it to post $10 billion in profits this year, something that only 17 public companies managed to do in 2010.
How did investors react to all this hope and cheer? With a giant yawn: GM's...(Read Full Post)